Bangladesh nationals accused of using forged ID cards

Two Bangladeshi men were yesterday charged with attempting to pass off forged documents as their own.

At the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, Magistrate Ann McLennan denied bail to Nur Nabi Bablu, 23, and Mohammed Hosen, 31, both of 17A Barkley St, Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara, who were each charged with uttering a forged ID card and conspiring to forge a Guyanese ID card.

The men were not required to plead to the indictable charges.

It was alleged that on November 24, 2013, at the Central Immigration Office, Nur Nabi Bablu, 23, with intent to defraud, presented forged identification cards to an immigration officer in the name of Emily Bablu.

It was also alleged that between October 1 and November 24, in Georgetown, Bablu conspired with a person or persons unknown to forge a Guyanese identification card to purport that it was issued by the Guyana Election’s Commission.

Hosen was faced with the same allegations save for the claim that he presented an identification card in the name of Micheal Singh.

It is the police’s case that on November 24, after the presentation of the documents at the Central Immigration Office, the immigration officer’s suspicions arose when he realised that the names on the identification cards were not those on the men’s passports. The men were questioned and subsequently arrested.

Attorney Paul Fung-a-Fat, who appeared for both accused, revealed that they were legally in Guyana for two years working in a friend’s shop. The men had reportedly applied for work permits but had not yet been issued any.

In the bail application, Fung-a-Fat stated that the men were willing to lodge their passports and report regularly to a police station. However, bail was refused based on the grounds that the duration of the men’s immigration stay was undetermined.